Flashback Trojan Virus Attacks Macs
A dangerous Trojan Horse virus has reportedly attacked 600,00 Macs worldwide in one of the largest security breaches ever to face Apple. Russian anti-virus company Dr.Web released results from a study saying that the Flashback virus exploited a loophole in Mac security.
The Flashback virus first surfaced in 2011 disguised as an Adobe Flash Player installer. It now attacks Java software.
“Studies” from companies selling anti-virus software can often be suspect, as the company has a vested interest in creating security concerns. But the Flashback issue is unusually specific, and seems to be verified by several sources.
The virus has opened the floodgates of criticism against Apple, which has long presented its Mac OS as a more secure alternative to Windows. Larry Dignan at CNET says Mac’s reputation has just been a result of it’s situation:
The reality is that Apple hasn’t had the market share to matter. That’s quickly changing since the Mac platform is outgrowing PCs. Meanwhile, enterprises are adopting Macs too. As these Macs go corporate the honeypot looks a lot sweeter to hackers.
For instructions on how to check to see if your computer is infected, click here.
[via Mashable]
